If your opponent is Corki, Leona, Alistar, Tristana, Miss Fortune, Sona or a champion with strong magic damage in the beginning of the game, you should use flat MR glyphs which give the most MR at the beginning of the game. If opponents have other combinations, then you can get scaling MR glyphs.

Graves' passive True Grit let's him not have to get armor items in order to be tanky.

I prefer AD marks over armor penetration to improve my last hitting. If you can get all the
last hits, then you can use the Armor Penetration.

There are some players who buy flat Attack Damage or Attack Speed glyphs. They may be very strong in the early game and pushing lanes. However, I don’t recommend that if you want to be strong in team fights.

With the Season 3 masteries changes Durability is now tier 1, and it is much easier to get the extra health from Veteran's Scars . In order to do 9 points in Utility for Runic Affinity , you have to give up Summoner's Resolve . It really is up to the enemy team's composition and your lane support, but the safest bet right now is to do 9 points in Defense Tree. If you feel safe to do 9 points in Utility then that is still fine, but safest for me is 9 in Defense.

Standard Build:

Starting Items:

OR
OR

Your starting items depend on the lane composition you are heading into. If you want to put pressure on the enemy, or you feel as though you have the ability to do so, start with the Long Sword and 2 Health Potion. This is a great starting build because it gives you the damage of a Doran's Blade but the freedom to also buy Health Potion as well.

If you feel as though you will have a tough time laning then start with Crystalline Flask and 5 Health Potion. I feel this gives you great sustain. The Crystalline Flask is a great item that pays for itself after just a few uses. This is a really great starting build because of the awesome sustain it gives you against hard lanes.

Core Items:

Sustain Build:

Starting Items:

As I mentioned, this starting build is really good if you think you are going to have a rough time in lane. It helps you survive much more so that you don't get bullied out of lane and then get into a huge disadvantage against your lane opponent. It is also great because with armor, it stacks up with your passive True Grit. So if you feel as though you are going to have a very rough lane, this starting build should help you out. The key is to make sure that you always are building up your passive. Even if you are trying to play passive and not push lane, be mindful of how many stacks your passive is at.

Core Items:

Defensive Items

Flash is a must. Next I prefer Cleanse, Exhaust and Heal in that order. Since the effectiveness of Heal has been decreased, it is not that important. However, if you're laning against an opponent that takes Cleanse you can take Heal to have an advantage in lane.

If you would like to have hard push to vaporize opponents, Lulu or Soraka would be a good choice.

Lane Phase:

In order to dominate the lane, a strategy of a strong push by Graves should be used. No other champions can keep up with Graves' pushing power.

You do not need to fight against champions, you just need to use Buckshot well on minions. This is very important for pushing lanes hard.

When Graves pushes the lane, the enemy champions will be easy to harass. It is the best to way to take advantage in lane.

When the opponent is trying to last hit, it is wise to use Smoke Screen to block them.

Let the support take care of the wards. It is best to set up wards at all possible spots where the enemy jungler can gank.

When your wards run out you and your support should recall to get more wards so you can push the lane again. When lanes are somewhat pushed you are a target of ganking, so placing wards on proper spots is mandatory. If your support is short on gold, it is nice to buy 1 or 2 wards for your lane's survival.

Mid/Late Game Strategy:

Graves has a basic gameplay management of any regular AD.

You can just deal damages from the back of the team. Survival is the most important part of your gameplay; while dealing the maximum amount of damage from the back. As an AD, you can have excuses to damage less, but you cannot be killed. In a team fight where the AD gets killed first; it is very wrong. If you die in every team fight, then you should buy Quicksilver Sash or Guardian Angel before other items.

As for Smoke Screen, if you place it where the road is narrow in the jungle or at the opposing team's formation, you can create a great deal of confusion. It is one of the greatest utility skills in LoL. Based on how you use it, it can flip the results of a team fight. Use it as carefully as possible. You need to paint the best scenario of how to use it to make it as tough as possible for the opponent. Even I have a hard time using Smoke Screen effectively.

From the start, she has a long range, keeping things at bay. Since she has similar push as Graves, it is hard to gain the advantage. However, if Caitlyn makes even the slightest mistake, things can be turned around. If you don’t have the technique to pressure Graves, picking Caitlyn becomes pointless.

If Caitlyn gets ganked just once, or gives even one kill she cannot win against Graves. If it’s the other way around then Caitlyn can win.

Since they have very weak push and health in the beginning they cannot win against Graves, but if they keep receiving seeding from the support while not getting behind in CS then after level 7 their damage dealing will change and Graves can lose. The win and lose depends on how much pressure is put on them in the beginning.

Normally, Graves wins, but for players at the very top it is a bit different. I have lost to a very skillful Vayne during practice matches.

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!